FESTUS, PORCIUS

(Festus means festival), successor of Felix as procurator of Judea, (Acts 24:27) sent by Nero probably in the autumn of A.D. 60. A few weeks after Festus reached his province he heard the cause of St. Paul, who had been left a prisoner by Felix, in the presence of Herod Agrippa II and Bernice his sister, (Acts 25:11,12) Judea was in the same disturbed state during the procuratorship of Festus which had prevailed through that of his predecessor. He died probably in the summer of A.D. 60, having ruled the province less than two years.